So after a Star Ocean game, I am obliged (as always) to gush about how much I love Sakuraba.
"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - FighteerI love his music, but I used to not like him (as much) because all of his music used to blend together and sound the same, which becomes more evident when you play several different games in a row that has him as the primary composer. His style has changed recently I heard, though I haven't played any of the new stuff he's composed.
Phantasy Star IV was the only Phantasy Star title I played and I thought it was awesome (though I played it way back when it was released). One of my favorite Genesis RPGs, though I never played the earlier titles and have heard that they haven't aged well or have just aged worse than IV has.
edited 8th Oct '13 1:30:17 PM by Customer
I dunno, I find his Star Ocean work, Valkyrie Profile and Tales to be all distinct. His work on Star Ocean is superb, though I think the two Valkyrie Profile games were his best. Here's what I liked in 4:
For Achieve
: Remixing the first game's battle theme and making it so much better.
I Do, Therefore I Am
: Grigori battle theme, appropriately haunting.
Yin and Yang
: Sort of an emotional piece, reminds me of 3.
Tears In The Sun Make A Rainbow
: This one is just amazing.
Whistle On The Wind
: Meracle's ocarina. Favourite original piece from this game. Plus the remixes.
Harlequin's Slumber
: Yup.
Sacrificial Lamb
: Another great emotional piece, even though it plays on my least favourite character's death.
Hour of Judgement
: I just love how it fluctuates.
Eureka!
: Most uplifting IC song ever!
The Incarnation of the Devil
: Possibly favourite boss theme of all time. No matter how many times Sakuraba remixes it, I love to fight a boss with this on the background.
edited 8th Oct '13 1:38:09 PM by lu127
"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - FighteerI've heard his work in Baten Kaitos and Golden Sun, both of which were great. Especially the Baten Katios music, because holy crap. Those two seemed pretty distinct for the most part, but I can imagine that things would get blurry with any composer who does work for a lot of series.
I hope I'm not putting this in the wrong place, but I was wondering what your thoughts would be on this post that I found
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=430877
I think it put into words something I've been trying to get my head around when thinking of what I like in RP Gs (eastern and western) gameplay-wise.
edited 8th Oct '13 10:31:01 PM by Novis
You say I am loved, when I don’t feel a thing. You say I am strong, when I think I am weak. You say I am held, when I am falling short.Most games utilize battle systems that are combinations of the two elements, really. The only entirely proactive battle systems that come to mind are old school turn-based JRPGs in the vein of Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy III. Dragon Quest VIII, I recall, was almost entirely about planning ahead.
Star Ocean 4 postgame! I advanced the ranks of the Coliseum, and now I'm in the Cave of the Seven Stars. I am woefully underleveled, only at 65~, and I lack Meracle's X Claw and Arumat's Dragon Roar. But I still manage just fine. Blindsides + Synthesized equipment is great.
The Temple Guardian was a fairly annoying boss, but I had Reimi distract it from afar while Meracle blindsided and combo-ed it to death. Even without her X Claw, her Burning Claws are pumped with Hyper Potions to give her an extra 5% in almost all stats. Sarah and Lym were on healer duties.
"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - FighteerI tried to play the original Phantasy Star, but I got totally lost in that one dungeon — the one where you had to find a robot, or something? I decided that it wasn't worth driving myself insane with the mazes that all looked the same except for the color of the walls, floors, and ceilings.
I have played far enough into PSIII to get to the second generation, but I find it to be a pretty mediocre game, so my motivation to continue the game has lagged. Yet, I still kind of like the game, mostly because of the generation system and the insane monster designs that are totally So Bad, It's Good.
Do not obey in advance.So basically, What Measure Is A Non Player Character and What the Hell, Hero?: The Game.
That... sounds pretty cool actually, though it also doesn't sound like a game I'd enjoy playing myself.
Also, "Petula". Cute.
edited 13th Oct '13 8:11:05 PM by Customer
So, I'm playing Final Fantasy III (not VI), and I keep wanting to play it like I played FFV, with switching jobs all the time so that everyone could level up all job classes.
...apparently that's a bad idea and I should just stick to one class for one character for each part of the game.
...now where's the fun in that? :/
Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!Well, the NES version had a special "currency" you had to use, but the DS/iOS version has the characters be a bit worse for a few battles after a switch.
And there aren't any classes like Freelancer or Mime where the benefits stack. And it takes forever to level jobs up.
edited 15th Oct '13 3:55:46 PM by Zendervai
October JRPG hoarding!
- Tales Of The Abyss 3DS
- Tales Of Eternia
- Star Ocean 3
- Dark Chronicle
- Persona 3 Portable
- Radiant Historia
I played Dark Chronicle a long time ago, and I've finished Persona 3 about a dozen times now, but never the portable version. So excited~
Buy two gold bars and a purse. First the purse, which will help you get the first gold bar and then the second after you've used the first. It'll take a lot of time, but will help out greatly.
This advice will make sense in due time. (Also I've forgotten when to use the second gold bar.)
Also, I bought Mario And Luigi Dream Team. Really enjoying it thus far, though I wished enemies respawned faster for the special challenges.
edited 18th Oct '13 11:53:21 AM by Lemurian
Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!Beat the Cave of the Seven Stars and Gabriel Celeste! He was surprisingly easy. At level 108, the strategy was basically buffed-up Meracle repeatedly blindsiding him while Reimi kept throwing things from afar. It helps I equipped Meracle with Bigfoot's Claws that have stun, so Gabriel spent half the fight dozing off. And I got three trophies for Meracle~
"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - FighteerI'm finally able to play my PS 2 titles and thus catching up and beating some of the RPGs I haven't been able to.
Currently playing Dragon Quest VIII (pretty much my most favorite JRPG ever) and .hack GU (Vol. 1 because I have to work back up through the series and I still need to get Vol. 3 at some point), with a little Devil Summoner Raidou 1 on the side. I also plan to start Rogue Galaxy later, as well as Valkyrie Profile 2 and probably Final Fantasy XII (I bought it and then never touched it again).
Dragon Quest VIII was charming in how formulaic it was. I burned out on .hack since the storytelling and mechanic evolution from game-to-game in the first four was abysmally bad. Valkyrie Profile 2 has been the most solid (to date) Tri Ace game I've played. It had the usual problems they exhibit, but to a far lesser degree.
"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - FighteerWith Dragon Quest, it's pure JRPG formula all the way.
I think the biggest reason I love VIII so much is how much exploration there is. I spend more time running around the world than doing the quests.
Speaking of the series, I'll need to finish IX eventually.
I enjoyed the story of .hack, but I found the first four games to be terrible and stopped after playing the third game. My brother was more tolerable and played through to the end though. The gameplay just got far too tedious for me. G.U. is a lot better in my opinion, but still plenty tedious, but not extremely so. I mostly started playing it again (I had beaten the first two volumes of G.U. before) because the Quantum OVA had shown up on Netflix. Similarly, I was near the end of Dragon Quest VIII before being forced to start over now.
I bought Valkyrie Profile 2 when it was first released (like the majority of my PS 2 games), without having played the first, but I had heard good things about it from reviews and bought it to give it a try. Hopefully it'll be enjoyable.
Rogue Galaxy is just another game I have to start over on and beat. Same with the Devil Summoner Raidou games.

^^ Oh my indeed.
Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!